European shares were little changed on the final day of trading in a month that has seen their strongest rally in six years.
IAG SA slipped 2.5 percent after its full-year forecast trailed analyst predictions. L’Oreal SA fell 4.6 percent on worse-than-projected sales, dragging a gauge of personal and household goods to the biggest drop among industry groups.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA lost 3.5 percent after posting a loss. BNP Paribas SA and Airbus Group SE added at least 1.8 percent after their profits topped estimates.
“We’re part way through earnings season and I think it’s been mixed,” said Ben Kumar who helps oversee about US$14 billion as an investment manager at Seven Investment Management in London.
“It’s not been a particularly fun ride, but if you’re overweight Europe since the start of the year, you’ve had a pretty decent year,” Kumar said.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped less than 0.1 percent at the close of trading. After rising as much as 0.3 percent and falling as much as 0.7 percent, the gauge pared losses in the latter half of the session and almost erased a drop in the final settlement.
Europe’s benchmark measure gained 8 percent last month after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank would consider additional easing in December.
Its rebound from a quarterly rout has been led by gains in carmakers, miners and energy producers — the groups most battered in the selloff.
The Bank of Japan on Friday refrained from boosting its monetary stimulus, while bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he did not see any limits to further action.
Among other stocks active on corporate news, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC slipped 1 percent after reporting profit that missed estimates.
Renault SA rose 5.3 percent after its revenue rose more than projected. Nokian Renkaat Oyj advanced 16 percent after its quarterly income beat estimates.
Euro-region consumer prices stagnated last month after falling 0.1 percent the previous month, a report showed on Friday.
Unemployment decreased in September, a separate release showed.
While eurozone stocks have rallied this month, their performance in the longer run calls into question the Draghi effect.
In the past two years, an index that tracks the eurozone’s equities has risen as much as a European gauge that also includes UK and Swiss shares. US and Japanese equities have advanced more.
Investors are skeptical whether the stimulus is boosting profits, and disappointing results from Deutsche Bank AG and Novartis AG have dragged the STOXX 600 to its first weekly drop in four, down 0.5 percent.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such